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Thursday March 12

The Apple Watch may have dominated Apple's Spring Forward event earlier this week, but an unexpected new MacBook could herald the future of mobile computing. It will be available April 10, both online and at Apple retail stores and select authorized resellers. Thinness, lightness and tomorrow's technology are its salient features. Its 12-inch Retina display is 0.88 mm thick, and the MacBook itself is 24 percent thinner than the 11-inch MacBook Air. Its keyboard is 34 percent thinner.

Perhaps we should have read it as an omen that the MagSafe 2 adapter for older, original MagSafe connectors was listed as discontinued on the Apple Store in the U.S. and Canada last week. It’s back in stock this week, but MagSafe’s future in new Mac laptops is uncertain with the revelation of the single-port MacBook. With just a USB-C connection for power, data, and display, MagSafe may be on its way to sing with the choir invisible.

That’s a shame because Apple has retrained people of all ages, and perhaps some animals, to not worry about Mac laptop power cables. Go ahead! Stand on it, trip over it, yank it—the force of the smallest effort pulls it free.

A patent application published on Thursday reveals Apple's interest in a docking solution for iPhone and iPad that supports multiple accessories and incorporates a display, advanced gesture controls, wireless communications and even inductive charging.

Wednesday March 11

Riding high the day after detailing a series of new products at its Spring Forward event, Apple's chief executive Tim Cook recapped the company's progress at its annual shareholder meeting on Tuesday, with a particular focus on acquisitions, partnerships and achieving the kind of diversity that reflects the company's growing, global audience of employees and customers.

Dutch bank ING and Singapore's OCBC Bank recently integrated Touch ID compatibility to their respective iOS apps, marking the first time Apple's fingerprint recognition system has been used to protect mobile banking apps in those countries.

MojoKid writes It seems that these days everything Apple touches turns to gold, hence why the company was able to post an $18 billion profit for its fiscal first quarter of 2015. Be that as it may, can Apple popularize the smartwatch market as others have been unable to do so far? Not only is that the expectation, but according to Swatch watch co-inventor Elmar Mock, Apple is going to bring about an "Ice Age" to the Swiss watch market. Elmar noted that he expects the Apple Watch to quickly reach sales of 20 million to 30 million units per year. For the sake of comparison, Switzerland exported 28.6 million watches in 2014, none of them with smart capabilities. "Apple will succeed quickly. It will put a lot of pressure on the traditional watch industry and jobs in Switzerland...I do expect an Ice Age coming toward us," Elmar said. Analysts for Barclays noted to investors that the Apple Watch launch could result in a 6 percent annual decline in Swatch Group AG's revenue. To keep up...

It's time to save some of your hard-earned money with our Daily Deals, featuring exclusive deals for AWT readers, hardware discounts and our own handpicked iOS and OS X sales. All prices are USD and subject to change. Please check prices before you purchase as some deals may expire quickly.

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MacPhun Focus [Now free, down from $9.99] To celebrate the launch of AppleWorld.Today, photo software developer Macphun is offering their popular Focus app for Mac for FREE readers of AWT.

This nifty photo software allows anyone to do a couple of super-cool things: (a) direct attention to the most interesting part of your photo and (b) use tilt-shift and motion blur effects towards...

With these timeless thoughts in mind, we crafted The Luxury Pocket Stand for Apple Watch, The Luxury Travel Kit, Travel Pouch and The Roll Up Kit for Apple Watch. A gorgeous celebration of ageless craftsmanship and appreciation for the beauty found in natural resources.

They took inspiration for the Pocket Stand from Brian’s grandfather and the pocket watch he used. I’m a big fan of the quality of products this company makes.

schwit1 writes Fake versions of the Apple Watch can be bought for as little as £25 — despite the fact the real thing will set you back more than 10 times that. The flagship new product was only launched in San Francisco yesterday but knock-offs are already available in China. According to CNN Money, they can be found at Huaqiangbei electronics market in the southern city of Shenzhen, and others are being sold nationwide via popular e-commerce websites. Right down to the digital crown, the fakes mimic the design and style of Apple's new offering.

Happy Hour is back and this week we’re discussing all of Apple’s latest announcements. The Spring Forward event brought along a few new Apple Watch details, slight MacBook Pro/Air updates, and the anticipated 12-inch MacBook with Retina Display. In this episode, we’re breaking down the announcements and serving up all of the need-to-know information about Apple’s latest and greatest for 2015. The Happy Hour podcast is available for download on iTunes and through our dedicated RSS feed…

After being pulled from Apple's iOS App Store in 2013, Nokia's HERE mapping and navigation app is back up for download, complete with offline caching, traffic information, public transit data and more.

While I still haven't found a need for an external battery pack for my iPhone 6 Plus -- which never seems to run out of energy during a typical day of use -- I'm sure that eventually I'm going to run into a situation where I'm away from a wall outlet for an extended period of time. RAVPower has a good looking and convenient 9,000 mAh battery pack/Lightning charger combo called the Savior RB-PB18 (US$99.99, on sale for $49.99, affiliate link) that we're looking at today.

Key Apple designers Jony Ive and Marc Newson will be opening up the first ever Conde Nast International Luxury Conference, scheduled for April 22 and 23 in Florence, Italy, according to an announcement made on Wednesday.

Apple Watch is bringing people to their keyboards in droves, writing opinions and asking questions about Apple’s newest device. That’s a great thing—unless you represent many of the world’s larger luxury watchmakers and you write a purely negative article about Apple Watch for The Guardian. [...]

Apple Watch debuted six months ago, which was plenty of time to think up all kinds of questions that company didn’t answer the first time around. How long does the battery last? How will Apple Pay work? How much do the things even cost?

Apple put the watch on display again at its recent “Spring Forward” event, and this time gave some concrete details. Here’s everything you need to know about Apple Watch before it goes on sale April 24. Got more questions? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to check back for the full Macworld review at the end of April...

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in hot water over her use of a private email server to handle emails for official business. The practice was very risky cybersecurity behavior for everyone involved, critics have alleged. In taking her mail outside the State Department's systems, Clinton appears to have violated agency rules. Employees who use private email for official business should turn that correspondence over to the department so it can be stored on the agency's computers, the department's Foreign Affairs Manual stipulates.

The Apple Watch is almost here. So this week’s roundup of accessories includes a few new wrist-based items that you won’t want to live without. Plus, the usual speakers, batteries, and more.

BiteMyApple

The $45 Twist World Travel Adapter is “an ultra-portable universal adapter” with four USB ports, designed to plug into wall sockets in 150 countries around the world: You’ll be able to charge your iPhone and iPad almost anywhere you choose to travel. Drop an additional $5, and you can buy the MacBook-compatible version.

When you pick up your new USB-C-equipped MacBook on April 10, rest assured that soon (sometime this summer) you'll be able to pick up a variety of charge and sync cables for it from Belkin.

The company announced a flock of cables (not to be confused with A Flock of Seagulls) today, all helping MacBook fans to connect to existing and future devices. Belkin says that the cables will be available for between US$19.95 and $29.95. There's also a USB-C to Gigabit Ethernet adapter listed with no suggested pricing. The details from Belkin are as follows:

We recorded this the day after Apple's big event, so obviously there is a lot to cover! Glenn and Susie chat about whether the watch's materials really matter, and why of course there's no trade-in program...unless you count eBay. But the new MacBook really did steal the show, so we geek out about that too, from the trackpad's taptic feedback to the smaller keyboard's bigger keys. (Yes, really. Bigger keys.) And what's up with that port? Glenn is glad you asked.

I am fascinated by this new business Apple’s going into; the sheer number of products and prices is pretty amazing: By my count, Apple will be shipping 38 separate models of watches. There’s a gallery page at Apple’s site where you can page through all of the watches, and get the details on each specific model. You can also view the watches in the store, where you can find pricing info.

Both of these solutions, though, require lots of paging and scrolling to get all the details. I was curious as to how all the watches compared, so I pulled data from those sources and made one massive spreadsheet

DNS problems at Apple have knocked the iTunes Store and the iOS and OS X App Stores offline today, preventing users from downloading new apps, app updates, or media from iTunes. Apple confirmed the source of the issue in a statement to CNBC.

"We apologize to our customers experiencing problems with iTunes and other services this morning," the statement reads. "The cause was an internal DNS error at Apple. We're working to make all of the services available to customers as soon as possible, and we thank everyone for their patience."

Trying to sign in on a Mac results in the angry red STATUS_CODE_ERROR message seen in the screenshot above. On iOS, you'll just be prompted to input your password over and over again, the same behavior you'd see if you were entering an incorrect password for your Apple ID.

iFixit has just dismantled the refreshed early 2015 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air models that Apple unveiled earlier this week, featuring new Intel Broadwell CPUs, improved graphics and other minor tweaks. Although the models mostly remain the same apart from the spec bumps Apple announced on stage, iFixit gives us its usual rundown on changes it discovered…

Inside, iFixit found that the new MacBook Airs have the same A1465 and A1466 model numbers as their predecessors, and no noticeable changes to the laptop’s construction. That also means the...

Apple on Wednesday issued a rare public apology to customers, as the company's high-profile digital storefronts continue to suffer hours-long global outages sparked by what Apple is calling an "internal DNS error."

While the HiRise won't ship until May, the images on the Twelve South website make it apparent that this will be a must-have accessory for almost any Apple Watch owner. The stand holds any Apple Watch -- even those with closed-loop metal bands -- and features a nook for the charging cable. Everything is held at a slight angle, making it possible to interact with the Apple Watch while it's charging on the HiRise.

It appears that two finishes are available -- black or aluminum brushed metal. There's a...

On Tuesday, it was reported that Apple services are experiencing major issues.

It started with iCloud. Users were unable to sign in to their iCloud mail accounts, then all of iCloud went down in an outage that lasted from just before 5 a.m. Eastern to around 9 a.m. Now iCloud is back up, but customers can’t make purchases in iTunes, the iOS and Mac App Stores, and the iBooks Store. iTunes Connect is also offline and reporting errors.

Basically, if a service requires an Apple login, you might have trouble accessing it this morning. The...

Fueled solely by the sun, the Solar Impulse 2 has completed the second leg of its historic journey around the world, landing in Ahmedabad, India. A decade-old dream is actualizing for the team. The solar plane began its historic flight in Abu Dhabi on Monday and landed early Tuesday at Muscat, Oman. The second leg took 15 hours, with the Solar Impulse 2 flying across the Arabian Sea and arriving late Tuesday night in Ahmedabad. The entire trip, consisting of 11 stops, will take about five months to complete.

For your listening pleasure, OWC Radio host Tim Robertson (@mymac) and chatted yesterday for a good long while about what transpired during Monday's Spring Forward event. That podcast is now available, and you can hear Tim and I expound on any number of things -- like the MacBook, Apple's ResearchKit, and even the opening video showing the launch of a new Apple Store in China.

One other fun bit was talking about the wonderful Apple community, how much we miss Macworld/iWorld, and the need for live events in order to meet with old friends and make new ones. Sigh...

Click the button below to hear the show, or look for OWC Radio in the iTunes Store...

Google is taking a deeper step into the retail world with a newly-launched "store within a store," located in London, that will give the company a venue to promote products such as Android phones, Chromebooks, and the Chromecast.

The number of participants in a Stanford University cardiovascular study conducted using Apple's new ResearchKit medical research platform ballooned to more than 10,000 overnight, researchers say, after the trial was featured on stage during Apple's "Spring Forward" event earlier this week.

Apple's latest notebook may need some time to meet the lofty sales bar set by its siblings, according to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, as the relatively high price and unconventional port arrangement could temper demand at the outset.

The new places to spend your money with a tap and a thumbprint include grocery chains Bashas', Dan's Fresh Market, Dick's Fresh Market, Lin's Fresh Market (are those folks related?) and Maceys, and food and beverage vendors Fuddruckers, Jamba Juice and Jersey Mike's.

Flying on JetBlue? They're now on the list. You can pick up office supplies at Office Max, auto parts at Pep Boys, and catch a movie at Regal Cinemas, all without reaching for your wallet.

Of course, Apple CEO Tim Cook brought up one other major vendor during Monday's event -- Coca-Cola vending machines. The company currently has 40,000 machines that accept Apple Pay and plans to upgrade 60,000 more by the end of 2015.

WaterField Designs has announced the Zip Brief, a case specifically designed for the new 12-inch Apple MacBook. The Zip Brief features pockets that cradle the MacBook on one side and accessories on the other, and an angled front pocket holds a smartphone, wallet or commuter pass.

The case is TSA-friendly and can be fully opened for airport security while contents remain safely secured.

The Zip Brief is available in tan waxed canvas or black ballistic nylon, includes two nylon handles and a detachable suspension shoulder strap and retails for US$179.00. The unit is now...

It started with iCloud. Users were unable to sign in to their iCloud mail accounts, then all of iCloud went down in an outage that lasted from just before 5 a.m. Eastern to around 9 a.m. Now iCloud is back up, but customers can’t make purchases in iTunes, the iOS and Mac App Stores, and the iBooks Store. iTunes Connect is also on the fritz.

Basically, if a service requires an Apple login, you might have trouble accessing it this morning. The problems aren’t just affecting U.S. Apple users—The Next Web noted that the outages appear to be worldwide.

With the Apple Watch set to ship in aluminum, stainless steel and 18-karat gold, Apple could launch as many as three additional casing materials in time for this fall's holiday shopping season, according to well-connected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

Apple will reportedly include “Force Touch” technology in the next iPhone after introducing the pressure-sensitive panels in the Apple Watch and the new MacBook.

Force Touch lets users perform different actions depend on how hard they press on the screen. On the Watch, for instance, a firm press brings up more options in apps like Messages and Calendar. On the new MacBook, pressing hard on the trackpad performs actions that used to require a two-finger tap, such as getting a Wikipedia definition when selecting a word.

Sources now tell the Wall Street Journal that Apple will extend the technology to the next iPhone later this year. The report also claims that Apple will stick to the same 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch screen sizes as the iPhone 6...

Although Swiss watchmakers have sometimes been passive or even resistant in response to smartwatches like the Apple Watch, the companies are said to be working on smartwatches of their own and could even see a boost to sales of traditional luxury models.

With the new 12-inch MacBook, Apple has gone all in for all-in-one, using USB-C to provide power, display output, and USB connections. Thunderbolt is gone. The SD card slot is gone as well.

The upside is compatibility, and thus lower costs and more options. USB-C is also a unifying and universal standard that doesn’t involve a single company acting as a licensing gatekeeper, the way Apple protects Lightning cables and adapters. USB-C would seem to have a lot to offer, but first we have to get over the hump of newness.

Typical story of “short term pain for long term gain” but it means I don’t see this particular machine as my next laptop.

Apple's online services, including the iTunes Store and App Store, experienced an extended outage Wednesday morning, stretching for hours, even though Apple's official system status page suggested all services were online.

Jay Yarow at Business Insider pulled together a variety of reactions to some hands-on time with the Apple Watch. These are snap reactions, given without the opportunity to live with the technology, without the benefit of true immersion.

In a nutshell, the reaction feels like one of confusion with the Apple Watch interface.

I am always interested in new desktop approaches. That's what drew my attention to Evolve OS. Normally, infant releases are too undeveloped to be the focus of a bona fide software review. This is not a criticism, but a reality of the work-in-progress nature of developing an OS. Evolve OS Beta has two innovations that distinguish it from the crowd of Linux distro newcomers. This new arrival is built around a home-made desktop called "Budgie" and a custom package manager forked from Pardus Linux.

The Apple Watch is not a cheap purchase, and with only 60% of our readers planning to buy one, it’s clear that many of you are not yet convinced you see a role for it. (I have to say I was even less convinced after checking out the size on my wrist in the Apple Store app–even the 42mm model looks tiny.)

My own plan, as a smartwatch skeptic, is to check that Apple’s 14-day return policy applies to the watch before buying one to try out for a week, fully expecting to return it. But if you don’t want to lay out that kind of cash even temporarily, a startup called Lumoid is offering Apple Watch rentals starting at $45 a day … ...

Apple has added 13 new retailers to its Apple Pay site, bringing the new total to 61 merchants. The biggest name wasn’t a surprise: Tim Cook gave a shout-out to Coca-Cola vending machines during Monday’s Spring Forward event, with 40,000 machines supported today, and a further 60,000 being upgraded by the end of the year …

Apple looks to be having a few lot of problems with its servers this morning. At the time of writing, iTunes Connect is refusing logins, the iBooks store is not responding and there are intermittent outages when viewing some individual items in both iOS and Mac App Stores …

Managing Editor Josh Centers called into The Dan Benjamin Hour to discuss revelations that the CIA is working to break the security of Apple devices. Josh gives an overview of what’s been revealed, and offers some insight into what average users can do to protect themselves (not much).

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

Meerkat makes it easy to stream live video to your Twitter followers. Josh Centers explains how it works.

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

Picking an Apple Watch isn’t like picking out your next iPhone—forget about focusing on specs and storage size. Instead, you’ll be looking at alloys (aluminum, stainless steel, or solid gold?), style (sporty, classic, or bling-bling?), and price ($349, $549, or the cost of iPad Air 2’s for you and 19 friends?) The Apple Watch is unchartered territory, but we’re here to help you navigate. Here are some things to consider before you pre-order your Apple Watch on April 10.

The Watch itself

...OK, this isn’t true to size, but if you launch the Apple Store app on your iPhone, you can toggle back and forth between 38mm and 42mm case sizes to get a real-life feel.

A report on Tuesday reiterated claims that Apple plans to integrate Force Touch features into its next iPhone model, and at the same time floated new rumors about an upcoming pink version of the handset.

So, what did the Other World Computing folks find in the new slender (but not as sleek as the new MacBook) laptops? With the 13-inch MacBook Air (AKA 13” 2015 MacBook Air7,2 SSD), the company not only did a teardown but also ran benchmarks on the solid-state drive (a four-lane PCIe SSD) to see just how fast it was. Running the QuickBench 4.0 suite -- also Apple World Today's favorite drive benchmarking tool -- they found that the extended file tests came in at 1,388 MB/second read and 1,216 MB/second write.

Now of course these are internal drives and don't need to transfer data via Thunderbolt or USB, but as a comparison, let's look...

Apple Stores are so effective at bringing shoppers into malls that the company has been able to negotiate much lower rent deals than most shops, the Wall Street Journal said in a report today. While most tenants have worked out deals to pay about 15% of their sales in rent, Apple’s ability drive traffic has enabled the company to keep its rent as low as a meager 2%.

The only way things could get better for Apple, it seems, is if the Cupertino tech maker was able to secure the same agreement as large department stores, which pay nothing in rent and simply pay fees to help manage the up-keep of the mall’s...

About 24 hours ago I was sitting in a room with Apple executives with an Apple Watch on my wrist, flipping through the different screens and options. I was immediately more impressed with the watch than I was when the device was first introduced in September 2014. [...]

As the dust settles from Apple's press conference yesterday, there have been a broad variety of reactions around the web. Robinson Meyer at The Atlantic says Apple's $10,000 watch demonstrates the company has lost its soul. "The prices grate. And they grate not because they’re so expensive, but because they’re gratuitously expensive. ... To many commentators, this is unsurprising. It’s good business sense, really. Apple has made its world-devouring profits by ratcheting up profit margins on iPhones. There is no better target for these massive margins than the super-rich. But high margins do not a luxury brand make." Others suspect the high-end watches are targeted more at rich people in China. As for the less expensive watches, perhaps they're around not so much to become a new major sales category for Apple, but rather to drive more iPhone sales. Meanwhile, the redesigned MacBook may signify a bigger change for the laptop industry than people realize: "We don’t need all those...

Patches the FREAK vulnerability to prevent interceptions of SSL/TLS-encrypted traffic. (Free, various sizes)

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

The latest handsets and tablets received their typical share of headlines at this year's MWC, but their mindshare shrank considerably. Sony unveiled its Xperia Z4 tablet, possibly its last hurrah in the mobile space. Meanwhile, Samsung's latest iPhone answer, the Galaxy S6, stole the spotlight. However, with more than 2,000 tech organizations promoting their wares and services -- most of which didn't bring iAssassins -- MWC 2015 offered a fresh set of promises, electrifying trade show audiences and intriguing those who watched from afar.

Apple’s keynote this week produced a lot of hype-worthy news, as such Apple announcements often do. Laptops with no ports! Wearables with five-figure price tags! And who could forget the claims that the iPhone is now going to transform medical research? The keynote seemed to imply that iPhones, and ResearchKit, would transform our smartphones into medical tricorders, ready to diagnose Parkinson’s disease or atherosclerosis at the tap of a screen. Not so fast.

As much as Silicon Valley likes to think of itself as a force for good, disrupting this and pivoting that, it sometimes forgets that...

The Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York on Tuesday heard Apple's arguments to dislodge lawyer Michael Bromwich from his position as external antitrust monitor, with one judge voicing concern over the methods used in his investigation.

Apple is preparing a new Reserve and Pickup system at its retail stores that will roll out in time for the Watch launch on April 24th, according to sources. The Reserve and Pickup system for the Apple Watch will differ from the existing Personal Pickup system for other products, which allows customers to fully purchase items online before picking them up at Apple retail locations. The new system will allow potential Watch customers to reserve a desired case and band combination online, then try the specific Watch in-store before completing the purchase.As it announced yesterday, Apple will begin taking pre-orders for the Watch beginning April 10th at which point Apple Watches will begin to be displayed within Apple retail stores. Apple is describing the two week period between pre-orders and the Watch going on sale as Preview, and the...

When the Apple Watch becomes available for pre-order on April 10th next month, customers will have to decide between two different sizes: 38mm and 42mm. Deciding between the two sizes may be difficult if you want to buy one before they begin shipping on April 24th, so the Watch will go on display at Apple Stores two weeks ahead of its launch.

You might not be able to visit a crowded Apple Store just to make that decision, and Apple (mostly) has that covered too. Buried inside the Apple Store app for iPhone is an actual size comparison for each case size. The mockup shows the casing of the Apple Watch with the home screen icons displayed, and you can tap to toggle between the smaller and larger cases....

Despite Apple's decision to not include Thunderbolt 2 in the new MacBook, the fast connectivity option is quickly becoming mainstream for those who need lots of speedy external storage or multiple big monitors. As such, manufacturers like CalDigit have been stepping up efforts to produce docks that allow multiple peripherals to be connected to a MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac, Mac mini or Mac Pro with a single cable. Today we're looking at the CalDigit Thunderbolt Station 2 (US$199, affiliate link), a surprisingly small but powerful Thunderbolt 2 dock.

Specifications

Dimensions: 5.2 x 3.88 x 1.71 inches (13.2 x 9.86 x 4.34 cm)

Weight: 1.34 lbs (.61 kg)

Design

Many of the docks I've reviewed in the past have come in a horizontal...

Two companies major accessory makers have capitalized on Apple's latest hardware announcements to introduce new products: Griffin has revealed the WatchStand for the Apple Watch, while LaCie has premiered a USB-C version of the Porsche Design Mobile Drive, aimed at Apple's 12-inch MacBook.

Although many people expected that Apple’s Spring Forward event would mostly focus on the Apple Watch, more than half of the event — notably, the first part — covered other topics. Collectively, there were so many interesting developments that their individual significance was somewhat lost, particularly given that long-awaited Watch pricing news wrapped up the event.

That’s why I wanted to reconsider what Spring Forward revealed about some of Apple’s non-Watch products. Some of the announcements signal that big changes are ahead for Apple’s Mac, iPad, and Apple TV product lines, as well as Apple itself. Read on for my thoughts, and add yours to the comments section below…...

This week, our roundup of new Mac app brings you apps to manage your text files, notes, business relationships, and photos. For variety, we even threw in a new way to look at the sky, and an easy solution to get rid of the clutter that affects your storage.

Assembler 1.0

Quote-Unquote Apps’s $10 Assembler (Mac App Store Link) solves a surprisingly common problem: It glues together multiple text files into a single document.

Apple's soon-to-be-released entry into the wearable market could bring financial pain for the low end of Switzerland's vaunted watch industry, according to Swatch co-inventor Elmar Mock, who believes that the Apple Watch "will put a lot of pressure on the traditional watch industry and jobs in Switzerland."

Researchers sponsored by the U.S. government have reportedly tried to defeat the encryption and security of Apple devices for years.

Several presentations given between 2010 and 2012 at a conference sponsored by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency described attempts to decrypt the firmware in Apple mobile devices or to backdoor Mac OS X and iOS applications by poisoning developer tools.

Abstracts of the secret presentations were among the documents leaked by former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden to journalists and were published Tuesday by The Intercept.

This runner’s idea of heaven is strapping a 38mm Apple Watch Sport to my wrist, throwing on a Bluetooth headset, and hitting the Prospect Park loop completely unencumbered.

But my hopes were dashed when I realized during Monday’s Apple Watch event that some key fitness features won’t work if I run without my iPhone 6. The Watch’s heart rate sensor and accelerometer work on their own, and the native Workout app can track different kinds of workouts that don’t require GPS. All of that information can later be synced with your phone if you exercise without it.

An iPhone companion

On Monday, Apple took the wraps off new Watch app partners, including fit tech companies like Nike, Runtastic, and Strava, which will track your workout progress on your wrist. It’s a far more convenient place to see your current pace than having to unlock your phone and fumble through various screens.

The big draw for third-party bands will be the ability for customers to purchase the entry-level $349 Sport model and upgrade to a stainless steel or leather band for much less than Apple’s official bands.

A new crowdfunding campaign from Monowear Design, for instance, promises leather and stainless steel bands for $80 each. Compare that with the...

The United States Federal Aviation Administration should implement cybersecurity upgrades recommended by the U.S. Government Accountability Office immediately, or risk hackers taking over its computer systems, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., has warned. The GAO last week released a report that found significant security control weaknesses in the FAA's computer systems threatened its ability to ensure the safe and uninterrupted operation of the U.S. national aerospace system, or NAS.

After deciding on a case size and material, choosing a band is the most important part of buying a new Apple Watch. Apple uses case and band combinations to stratify the wearable's pricing, so AppleInsider took a look at the options.

Google just announced its much anticipated Google Calendar app for iPhone is now available on the App Store. The app is essentially an iPhone version of the standalone Calendar mobile app previously only available for Android devices. Google first unveiled the latest version of its Calendar app alongside the release of Android 5.0 Lollipop late last year.

The Google Calendar app for iPhone works with your Exchange and iCloud calendars and also integrates with Gmail to automatically turn events from emails into Calendar entries. Here’s a rundown on features from Google:

Apple has published their second major security roll-up package of the year, Security Update 2015-002, which contains fixes for multiple version of OS X stretching from Mountain Lion 10.8.5 to Yosemite 10.10.2. These updates mitigate threats from several different vulnerabilities, but the most notable is a fix that will inoculate Safari users against the so-called "FREAK" SSL/TLS exploit (CVE-2015-0204, although at publication time the Apple page shows CVE-2015-0167 as the CVE ID for FREAK).

First publicized a week ago, the "FREAK" vulnerability can be used by an attacker to force someone’s SSL/TLS connection to a...

Apple’s annual shareholders meeting is taking place today at its headquarters in Cupertino where shareholders vote on proposals from both Apple management and other shareholders, and Apple fields questions from attendees at the meeting. While shareholder meetings aren’t broadcasted like earnings calls, a few members of the media are in attendance to report the event’s activities. Below is a roundup of news coming out of the meeting…

– Shareholders pass all Apple proposals

All Apple proposals passed, but exec comp one got 25.37% no votes, which is high.

Software Updates via MacUpdate

MacFamilyTree 7.3.4 - Create and explore...

MacFamilyTree gives genealogy a facelift: it's modern, interactive, incredibly fast, and easy to use. We're convinced that generations of chroniclers would have loved to trade in their genealogy... Read more

Yummy FTP 1.10.2 - FTP/SFTP/FTPS client...

Yummy FTP is an FTP + SFTP + FTPS file transfer client which focuses on speed, reliability and productivity.
Whether you need to transfer a few files or a few thousand, schedule automatic backups, or... Read more

VueScan 9.5.08 - Scanner software with a...

VueScan is a scanning program that works with most high-quality flatbed and film scanners to produce scans that have excellent color fidelity and color balance. VueScan is easy to use, and has... Read more

Iridient Developer 3.0.1 - Powerful imag...

Iridient Developer (was RAW Developer) is a powerful image conversion application designed specifically for OS X. Iridient Developer gives advanced photographers total control over every aspect of... Read more

Air Video Server HD 2.1.0 - Stream video...

Air Video Server HD streams videos instantly from your computer on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or Apple TV. No need to worry about converting or transferring files.
We took everything that was... Read more

Duplicate Annihilator 5.7.5 - Find and d...

Duplicate Annihilator takes on the time-consuming task of comparing the images in your iPhoto library using effective algorithms to make sure that no duplicate escapes.
Duplicate Annihilator... Read more

BusyContacts 1.0.2 - Fast, efficient con...

BusyContacts is a contact manager for OS X that makes creating, finding, and managing contacts faster and more efficient. It brings to contact management the same power, flexibility, and sharing... Read more

Capture One Pro 8.2.0.82 - RAW workflow...

Capture One Pro 8 is a professional RAW converter offering you ultimate image quality with accurate colors and incredible detail from more than 300 high-end cameras -- straight out of the box. It... Read more

Backblaze 4.0.0.872 - Online backup serv...

Backblaze is an online backup service designed from the ground-up for the Mac.With unlimited storage available for $5 per month, as well as a free 15-day trial, peace of mind is within reach with... Read more

Little Snitch 3.5.2 - Alerts you about o...

Little Snitch gives you control over your private outgoing data.
Track background activity As soon as your computer connects to the Internet, applications often have permission to send any... Read more

Pie In The Sky: A Pizza Odyssey 1.0
Device: iOS Universal
Category: Games
Price: $2.99, Version: 1.0 (iTunes)
Description:
A game about delivering pizza. In space.
| Read more »

Chosen Gives Hopeful Singers, Songwriter...

If YouTube videos and reality TV shows like The Voice have taught us one thing, it’s that there are a lot of people out there who are anxious to show the world their talents. And if they’ve taught us a second thing, it’s that there’s an almost... | Read more »

Android's Popular OfficeSuite Now A...

Once only available for Android devices, OfficeSuite has finally landed on the app store. The Mobile Systems app lets you view, edit, create, and share Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents as well as convert them to/from PDFs. It's touted as being... | Read more »

Warhammer: Arcane Magic is Coming Soon,...

Turbo Tape Games has announced that they're joining forces with Games Workshop to bring the turn-based strategy board game, Warhammer: Arcane Magic, to life on the iOS.
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Fast & Furious: Legacy's Creati...

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N-Fusion and 505's Ember is Totally...

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These are All the Apple Watch Apps and G...

The Apple Watch is less than a month from hitting store shelves, and once you get your hands on it you're probably going to want some apps and games to install. Fear not! We've compiled a list of all the Apple Watch apps and games we've been able to... | Read more »

Appy to Have Known You - Lee Hamlet Look...

Being at 148Apps these past 2 years has been an awesome experience that has taught me a great deal, and working with such a great team has been a privilege. Thank you to Rob Rich, and to both Rob LeFebvre and Jeff Scott before him, for helping me... | Read more »

Hands-On With Allstar Heroes - A Promisi...

Let’s get this out of the way quickly. Allstar Heroes looks a lot like a certain other recent action RPG release, but it turns out that while it’s not yet available here, Allstar Heroes has been around for much longer than that other title. Now that... | Read more »

Macho Man and Steve Austin Join the Rank...

WWE Immortals, by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and WWE, has gotten a superstar update. You'll now have access to Macho Man Randy Savage and Steve Austin. Both characters have two different versions: Macho Man Randy Savage Renegade or Macho... | Read more »

Price Scanner via MacPrices.net

Apple offering refurbished 27-inch 5K iMacs f...

The Apple Store is offering Apple Certified Refurbished 27″ 3.5GHz 5K iMacs for $2119 including free shipping. Their price is $380 off the price of new models, and it’s the lowest price available for... Read more

16GB iPad mini on sale for $199, save $50

Walmart has 16GB iPad minis (1st generation) available for $199.99 on their online store, including free shipping. Their price is $50 off MSRP. Online orders only.
Read more

The Apple Store has Apple Certified Refurbished 13″ 2.6GHz/128GB Retina MacBook Pros available for $979 including free shipping. Original MSRP for this model was $1299.
Read more

Save up to $600 with Apple refurbished Mac Pr...

The Apple Store is offering Apple Certified Refurbished Mac Pros for up to $600 off the cost of new models. An Apple one-year warranty is included with each Mac Pro, and shipping is free. The... Read more

Samsung Galaxy S 6 and Galaxy S 6 edge U.S. P...

Samsung Electronics America, Inc. has announced the Galaxy S 6 and Galaxy S 6 edge will be available in the U.S. beginning April 10, with pre-orders being accepted now.
“We have completely reimagined... Read more

13-inch 2.5GHz MacBook Pro (refurbished) avai...

The Apple Store has Apple Certified Refurbished 13″ 2.5GHz MacBook Pros available for $829, or $270 off the cost of new models. Apple’s one-year warranty is standard, and shipping is free:
- 13″ 2.... Read more

Färbe Technik, which manufactures and markets of mobile accessories for Apple, Blackberry and Samsung mobile devices, is offering tips on how to keep your iPhone charged while in the field:
•... Read more

Jobs Board

DevOps Software Engineer - *Apple* Pay, iOS...

**Job Summary** Imagine what you could do here. At Apple , great ideas have a way of becoming great products, services, and customer experiences very quickly. Bring
Read more

*Apple* Retail - Multiple Positions (US) - A...

Sales Specialist - Retail Customer Service and Sales Transform Apple Store visitors into loyal Apple customers. When customers enter the store, you're also the
Read more

Sr. Technical Services Consultant, *Apple*...

**Job Summary** Apple Professional Services (APS) has an opening for a senior technical position that contributes to Apple 's efforts for strategic and transactional
Read more

Lead *Apple* Solutions Consultant - Retail...

**Job Summary** Job Summary The Lead ASC is an Apple employee who serves as the Apple business manager and influencer in a hyper-business critical Reseller's store
Read more

*Apple* Pay - Site Reliability Engineer - Ap...

**Job Summary** Imagine what you could do here. At Apple , great ideas have a way of becoming great products, services, and customer experiences very quickly. Bring
Read more

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